Friday, October 31, 2014

1 Hour To Spare

Oddly, this is still not the closest I've cut it to finishing my costumes.

I mean, some years, I even finish my costumes after Halloween itself. But last night, at roughly 11 pm, I painted the last snowflake and set down my brush. Whoo!

I don't have real photos for you today, because the kids took their costumes to school to wear at their respective fall parties. I do, however, have shots of their cloaks, which I had to emergency-sew because it's 35 degrees out there now and will only get worse after the sun sets. The newspapers are calling this the coldest Halloween we've had in 8 years.

Well of course it is. It would be the coldest Halloween in 8 years on which my Kate chooses a gossamer chiffon top for her outfit. Here she is, in her partially-finished Elsa thingy - at the time of this photo, it still needed snowflakes painted on her sleeves, gems on her bodice and a trimmed hem.

And here are the cloaks - purple for Jenna

and blue for Kate.

They're very easy to make - just a semicircular body with darts that are shoulder-width apart (you can see them in some of the pictures), sewn onto a hood, then bound all around with fleece. Sometimes, depending on the costume with which they're supposed to coordinate, I layer the outside with satin. We use them every year - in different colors -when we go out to snag candy, worn over their costumes instead of a ski jacket. 

Incidentally, I was helping out in the girls' school this afternoon, and during the lower elementary costume parade, we counted 23 Elsas and 4 Annas! And zero Oakens :(   


10 comments:

  1. Ahhh.... thank goodness for the beautiful warm cloaks! At least the wind isn't howling like it was yesterday. And I heard that a lot of flights in Chicago were cancelled today due to a couple inches of SNOW! Ack! We have much to be thankful for!

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  2. Our babysitter mentioned that she and her fiance were going to play the Anna and Elsa Halloween drinking game tonight - take a drink every time someone in an A or E costume shows up!

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  3. What a sweet Elsa! It's cold here in Georgia too. On our way home tonight there were snow flurries. We usually don't even need jackets for Halloween, and it rarely snows so this is a change. Your cloaks have inspired me and I'm going to make a couple for my daughter for Christmas. She currently walks around with a blanket draped over her shoulders pretending to be "Queen", so I know she will be thrilled.

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  4. There were two Elsas in Lily's kindergarten class. My kids all wore their costumes from last year, so it was a very low-stress Halloween in our home this year.

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  5. Here in the UK it's been the warmest Halloween for decades. Apparently London got over 20 C, here in Scotland it was also unseasonably warm. I only contributed to my niece's 'spirit', which was all her own idea. Have been re-reading the pocket tutorials and lining is covering the living room floor while I gather courage to make the first cut.

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  6. The cloaks are gorgeous.
    Our Halloween was unseasonably warm -73 degrees, so the warm monster costume I picked out for my son got worn for about 3 minutes. Glad I didn't spend loads of time making something this year.

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  7. After the Oaken mention I realized I really want to knit that sweater. I can't find the pattern though!!

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  8. It also snowed all evening here and it was horrible. I only went through half the candy I normally do and we were giving it out by fistfulls at the end. Stupid snow

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  9. I refused to let my girls be elsa/anna this year. I did however, let them be butterflies using your amazing wings from you butterfly party! Thank you thank you!!

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  10. hi you're very good!
    your work is gorgeous....congratulation
    Anna

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